Ri916's FM 12 Youth Academy Challenge!

[ri916]

Welcome to what is probably one of the hardest challenges in FM. Clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona have a reputation of bringing through youth. But their filthy rich and have a massive reputation, of course they can bring good players through, right. My question is can a small club bring through youth that has sufficient quality to play for the first team. The only person that can answer that is YOU. Personally, I'm sceptical as to whether it's possible. Prove me Wrong. Thats the Aim of this challenge.

What You have to do

• This challenge will take place in England. To start, you have to create a Holiday manager and holiday for a season. I dont want you to download a save already holidayed as general Ca and Pa's of players will already be set (minus Pa's) and will make other peoples games ununique. Similar to dafauge's challenge, you will be taking over a club promoted to the Blue Square North/South. The league reset date is on June 24th so you can save and reload on june 23rd to get the club you want. create your manager on june 24th and select your club. be honest with nationality and reputation should be sunday league footballer.

• With no transfers, you must first stabilise, and then guide you team up the leagues. It will be hard, some might say impossible, but with your managerial brilliance you may stand a chance.

• The aim is to eventually win the Premier League and champions league with your club. with only 6 months until the probable release of fm 13, i doubt anyone could get near to completion of the challenge, but rest assured that any achievement will be recorded although there will not be any points scoring. I also hope to do this again in Fm13 provided there is a decent level of interest this time.

Tips

• Save as Much money as possible and try to get facilities improved regulary
• Dont make it to hard for yourself. completing the challenge is an amazing achievement. nobody is worried whether you do it with Fc United or Wingate and Finchley. pick a team that has a decent squad to give yourself a chance of staying up in the first few seasons.
• start by using a compact formation that is hard to break down. take care with team talks and dont rush throught the game, as you will be relegated.
• choose a team with decent youth facilities.

The Database

• You Must load all the english leagues and players from regional premier divisions. Also load players from top clubs in europe so if you reach continental competitions you are playing real players.

• You can load any other league or players from top clubs ect. but you must load the things above.

• you should also tick add players to playable teams so your promoted team should have a full squad to start with.

Rules

• No loans or transfers in are allowed but you can sell and loan players out.
• If you are sacked, you can start with a newly promoted club on the next reset date.
• No savegame editors are allowed. only cosmetic database edits are allowed. (team/competition names/logos)
• No international management until completion of challenge.
• Signing backroom staff is allowed
• signing players on trial or signing grey players isnt allowed.

Rules for this Thread

Player naming is allowed.

General discussion on tactics is allowed, although people should not refer to downloaded tactics. They are not banned, but I would expect the majority of people to avoid them.

Screenshots for anything are encouraged but please post links to your pictures, don't post them as images as it makes the pages slower to load. Posts included embedded images may be deleted without warning.

When you join the challenge, could you post a screenshot of your manager's profile on the 24th June.

Progress of your club should be documented using this thread, I want to hear the story of your club all the way through. Please keep me updated, even if you are doing really badly.

Posts should be seasonal and include screenshots of : Transfers (to prove you aint cheating ),League table, Squad (at end) and of your Youth Intake. Anything else is optional but I would appreciate a screen of the best player in your intake's stats. Also, I would like you to nickname your best player/s of each youth intake in chronological order. for example, nickname your best player in the intake in season 1 as *their name* YP01


How to Post a Screenshot

• While in FM, press Alt and F9
• A picture will be saved to a screenshots folder, in the FM12 folder in your documents
• Upload the image to an image hosting website such as Photobucket
• Post the direct Url to the image here.

How to Add Links

At the top of the forum, go to 'Settings' then 'General Settings' (on the left). At the bottom, select 'enhanced interface' and save the changes. This will give you access to the extra posting tools that make it easier to post links. Once you've done this, highlight the word you wish to turn into a link, then use the link button (looks like a little globe) to paste in the direct Url to your screenshot.



I will be taking part in the challenge and replying regulary to your post's. Im sure I've missed something so if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask. Enjoy and i hope this challenge has some takers!

It is never to late to join

[ri916]

Participants

Name	Current Team	Current Division	Seasons Complete
Tactic Master	Chester	L1	4
Nottingham Forest	Chester	BSP	2
TWFL	Carshalton	CH	8
the_greyham	Hendon	L2	8
Ant	Bedford	BSS	1
Stothy	Chester	CH	10
Toonbalmy87	Carshalton	PL	20
avramski	Kingstonian	BSS
Ri916	Oxford City	BSS	2
Joebainborough	Carshalton	BSP	1
Slich	Bury Town	BSP	2
Drew	Lowestoft	CH	14
WelshWizard	Chester	BSP	3
Braumiller	Weymouth	CH	9
Charlie_B	Carshalton	BSP	1
Conman14	Hendon	BSS	5
Trusler
Donaldoholic	Margate	BSS	2
Goldyrulz	Chester	BSP	1
JB	FC United	BSN
Hypanimz	Chester	BSN
Tom_	Stafford	BSN
Shevchenko	FC United	BSN	1
Vivex	Margate	BSS
Mthielen	Chester	BSP	1
jcoll	Northwich	BSN	2
Tony hawker	Hastings	BSS	3
Jpr	Lowestoft	BSS	1
mkjellander	Kingstonian	BSS
Unknown hacker	Carshalton	BSP	1
Pellibird	Chester	BSP	1
La Furia Roja	Lewes	BSS	1
mack4life	Fc United	BSN	1

[ri916]

Hall of Fame

Completions


Toonbalmy87- FM2012


First Player to get Promoted

Tactic Master/ Chester- FM 2012

First Player in the Football League

Tactic Master/Chester-FM 2012

First Player to get into the Premier League

Toonbalmy87- Carshalton- FM 2012


First Player to Win the FA Cup

Toonbalmy87- Carshalton- FM 2012


First Player to Win the Premier League

Toonbalmy87- Carshalton- FM 2012

First Player to Win the Champions League

Toonbalmy87- Carshalton- FM 2012

First Player to win Community Shield


First Player to win World Club Cup


First Player to Win Super Cup


Most Capped Youth Player (international)

FM 2012-


Most Goals By Youth Player In A Match (Competitive Match)

FM 2012- Braumiller- Ray Holland- 6



Most Clean Sheets By A Youth Goalkeeper In A Season

FM 2012-


Youth Players with 500 League Appearances


Youth Players with 100 League Goals


TWFL- Antony Freeman-Proof
Tactic Master- Christian Walsh-Proof
Stothy- Gus Navarro-Proof

First Youth Player In World Team Of The Year

Toonbalmy87-Wormull-Proof

First Youth Player To Win European Golden Ball

Toonbalmy87-Burt-Proof

Most Golden Balls

Fm 2012-

First Youth Player To Win World Player Of The Year


Most World Player Of The Year

FM 2012-

Most Team Of The Year

FM 2012


Biggest Sale Of Youth Player (meaning how much you received for selling a youth player you brought up)

FM 2012


Most League Goals from a Youth Player

FM 2012-


Most Appearances from a Youth Player


FM 2012-


Players that have had sons

FM 2012

Braumiller- Chris Talbot

[Biscotti]

Good to see this challenge return, even under a different guise. It's most definitely a tough one and I look forward to seeing people try it out (I wont be myself - at least not in FM12 - as I don't have time).

[ri916]

no problem thanks for the encouragement and maybe one day you will have enough time

[ri916]

Richard Ineson is announced manager of FC United of Manchester. Although relatively unknown, the manager has raised some interest from the media by clearly outlining plans to make the club one of the best teams in the world, using only their youth academy.

[Tactic Master]

Is it possible to poach players from other academy's? Like as soon as they come into the game, as long as they are free? If not, this challenge is going to be mega-hard once you reach the Premier League, it could take 20 seasons before you even have a half decent team.

[ri916]

sorry, no cheating . It's supposed to be hard, and i dont expect anyone to get anywhere near completing it this year. I'm hoping we will see a few people get into the football league thats all . In fm13, I'm sure somebody might have a good run at it. Gonna have a go TM?

[Tactic Master]

Yeah i'll have a go, I can't see it being too difficult in the lower divisions, just more so when you reach the higher ones, because some years you get absolute rubbish youth in-take, even with the best facilities and youth recruitment systems.

[Tactic Master]

What do you mean by players from Regional Premier Divisions?

[ri916]

it's the players from the league below the blue square north/south. select 'players from division' scroll down to england and select 'regional premier divisions'. if you have an edit to get real competition names it may not be called 'regional premier divisions'.

here is the screenshot of it

[TWFL]

I'm going to do this. Am just holidaying the first season now.

Also I haven't got any of the patches so will be using the default version if that's alright.

[ri916]

absolutely fine mate! good luck. will add a list of participants soon. I'm 8games in with FC United and i have a grand total of 5points! very hard to start with and it is something i will have to think about for next year. Chester should be easier to keep up (large squad and a media prediction of 9th) so if i get relegated i will do the challenge with them

[stothy]

Is it possible to poach players from other academy's? Like as soon as they come into the game, as long as they are free? If not, this challenge is going to be mega-hard once you reach the Premier League, it could take 20 seasons before you even have a half decent team.

You mean like Bilbao

[TWFL]

absolutely fine mate! good luck. will add a list of participants soon. I'm 8games in with FC United and i have a grand total of 5points! very hard to start with and it is something i will have to think about for next year. Chester should be easier to keep up (large squad and a media prediction of 9th) so if i get relegated i will do the challenge with them

Aha useful tip cheers. Was thinking of starting with the team with the best youth facilities but a good squad to begin with might change that thinking.

And Here is the database picture. I got 47000 players compared to your 35000 which I thought was odd..

[ri916]

Aha useful tip cheers. Was thinking of starting with the team with the best youth facilities but a good squad to begin with might change that thinking.

yeah, the reason i chose FC united was because their youth facilities werent rented. (thought this made it easier to upgrade them ect.)

[Nottingham Forest]

I started this as Vauxhall Motors as I didn't want to wait one season. However, as you've created a thread, I'm going to restart and holiday for a season.

[ri916]

wow, these forums really pick up around 6pm, been waiting all day for some takers! good luck Nottingham Forest

on a side note, is anyone interested in helping to run this?

[Nottingham Forest]

You won't need anyone to help run it. It'll run itself. A lot of people are honest and won't cheat and it'll all be rosey .

[Tactic Master]

Mike Nevo has just been unveiled as the new Chester boss! This is Nevo's first challenge in management and will be a huge challenge. Chester are predicted 8th by the media.

Mike Nevo has stated that this club will rely solely on youth-intake. He plans to invest any money that the club manages to scrape in, straight back into the facilities and youth recruitment system. He believes that taking this road will ensure that Chester has a fantastic financial future and wont be riddled with debt such as the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, just to name a few big teams.

Club: Chester
Nickname: The Blues
Icons: Michael Wilde
Fierce Rivals: Wrexham
Other Rivals: Chorley, Witton, Northwich, Shrewsbury
Estimated Value: £180k
Season Ticket Holders: 1,065
Bank Balance: £65k

Stadium: The Deva Stadium (Rented: £1 Per Year)
Stadium Capacity: 6,000 (3485 Seated)
Corporate Facilities: Fairly Basic
Training Facilities: Fairly Basic
Youth Facilities: Minimal (Rented)
Junior Coaching: Basic
Youth Recruitment: Limited

[ri916]

I have no trust issues, you can rest assured of that . Just need someone who will will reply to everyone's post and make this thread great! it can be disheartening if no one appreciates the hard work you have put into an update, even if it is just a couple of screenshots and a few lines.

[Tactic Master]

I plan to update that information each season, just to document how it changes from season to season

[Tactic Master]

absolutely fine mate! good luck. will add a list of participants soon. I'm 8games in with FC United and i have a grand total of 5points! very hard to start with and it is something i will have to think about for next year. Chester should be easier to keep up (large squad and a media prediction of 9th) so if i get relegated i will do the challenge with them

I was hoping for FC United, but they didn't pop up in my game, so i've gone with the closest thing "Chester"

[ri916]

Mike Nevo has just been unveiled as the new Chester boss! This is Nevo's first challenge in management and will be a huge challenge. Chester are predicted 8th by the media.

Mike Nevo has stated that this club will rely solely on youth-intake. He plans to invest any money that the club manages to scrape in, straight back into the facilities and youth recruitment system. He believes that taking this road will ensure that Chester has a fantastic financial future and wont be riddled with debt such as the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool, just to name a few big teams.

Club: Chester
Nickname: The Blues
Icons: Michael Wilde
Fierce Rivals: Wrexham
Other Rivals: Chorley, Witton, Northwich, Shrewsbury
Estimated Value: £180k
Season Ticket Holders: 1,065
Bank Balance: £65k

Stadium: The Deva Stadium (Rented: £1 Per Year)
Stadium Capacity: 6,000 (3485 Seated)
Corporate Facilities: Fairly Basic
Training Facilities: Fairly Basic
Youth Facilities: Minimal (Rented)
Junior Coaching: Basic
Youth Recruitment: Limited

looks like a promising future ahead for chester! I like that you posted the facilities as it gives people an idea of what they are getting into. good luck, and i look forward to reading your first season update

[Tactic Master]

looks like a promising future ahead for chester! I like that you posted the facilities as it gives people an idea of what they are getting into. good luck, and i look forward to reading your first season update

I might be a bit slower than others, because i've got my sign-up to run, but i'll do my best I love taking a team like this to the top, but i've never tried with such restrictions, but when I played normally with FC United, I got to the Prem with back to back wins all the way and after 3 seasons won the Champions League This will be a much much harder challenge though and I suppose it will bring more of a realism to promotions and relegations etc...

[ri916]

sounds like this is exactly the challenge you need then. Probably a bit boring winning everything straight away. and yes, i wouldnt want you neglecting your sign up, Richard Marino takes priority

[Nottingham Forest]

Not sure what team I want tbh. I wouldn't mind a local side as close to where I live as possible. I'll be giving monthly updates in here as well as having a thread in the Career Updates Forum. With my working patterns, there maybe times when I play more than others. I have two days off from tomorrow, and unless I go town tomorrow, the only thing stopping me is a few hours on Thursday when I have to go into work. So at the speed I play, I could have 2 or 3 seasons done by Friday night.

[Tactic Master]

Not sure what team I want tbh. I wouldn't mind a local side as close to where I live as possible. I'll be giving monthly updates in here as well as having a thread in the Career Updates Forum. With my working patterns, there maybe times when I play more than others. I have two days off from tomorrow, and unless I go town tomorrow, the only thing stopping me is a few hours on Thursday when I have to go into work. So at the speed I play, I could have 2 or 3 seasons done by Friday night.

Thankfully I have a steady working pattern

Start at 6:30am, finish 12:30pm and then I generally have the rest of the day to myself, but i've just started a fitness program, so little bit less FM time

[Nottingham Forest]

My working pattern is steady tbh and I don't mind. My shifts are usually either 7-4s or 12:30-9:30s. So you only do 30 hours a week then? That seems a bit crap unless that's full time for where you work. If it is then cool. Occasionally I may be required to do night shifts if they ask nicely but I don't have to. I can refuse that outright.

[Tactic Master]

Pre-Season with "The Blues"

I've set up the following friendlies, with a view of making some extra money, but balancing that with some games against lower opposition.

Birmingham
Cardiff
Aston Villa
Hyde
Darlington
Hednesford
Colwyn Bay
Sunderland Nissan
Lex

Thats in order from top to bottom of when I play the games. Hopefully I can cause a few shocking results against one of those top 3

[ri916]

is it alright if you do the more detailed monthly updates in the career thread and just seasonal updates in here? I know it may seem stupid but i kind of want all updates to be once a season so everyone has time to reply to each update. sorry if this is an inconvenience for you. I would stress that you pick a realistic side, however i dont want this to become Chester youth academy challenge so pick who you want

[toonbalmy87]

i think my computer will die with all those players on the game could i just load all english players ??

[Tactic Master]

My working pattern is steady tbh and I don't mind. My shifts are usually either 7-4s or 12:30-9:30s. So you only do 30 hours a week then? That seems a bit crap unless that's full time for where you work. If it is then cool. Occasionally I may be required to do night shifts if they ask nicely but I don't have to. I can refuse that outright.

How many hours do you do?

30 hours is Full Time with Full Time being 30+ hours. I've worked my way up from 12 hours a week, but now the company is making cutbacks, so i'm unlikely to get anymore contracted hours on top of my 30, but I do get overtime sometimes, such as mondays when I don't usually work.

[ri916]

just put that posts should be seasonal in bold so it's clearer.

[Tactic Master]

is it alright if you do the more detailed monthly updates in the career thread and just seasonal updates in here? I know it may seem stupid but i kind of want all updates to be once a season so everyone has time to reply to each update. sorry if this is an inconvenience for you. I would stress that you pick a realistic side, however i dont want this to become Chester youth academy challenge so pick who you want

I think, obviously we should do seasonal updates, but just every now and again just add a little, like my post above just to keep people informed? For me, if I didn't post small bits, I hardly be posting at all because I can't get through a season like other people, i'm interested in the detail

[Tactic Master]

just put that posts should be seasonal in bold so it's clearer.

Or... Maybe Mid-Season and End Of Season reports?

[Nottingham Forest]

How many hours do you do?

30 hours is Full Time with Full Time being 30+ hours. I've worked my way up from 12 hours a week, but now the company is making cutbacks, so i'm unlikely to get anymore contracted hours on top of my 30, but I do get overtime sometimes, such as mondays when I don't usually work.

I work 39 hours. Which is full-time for me. Anything over is over-time obviously . I've worked my way up from doing 9 hours, then to 8, then to 19, then to 30 and then I got full-time in November.

Ri916, that's cool. Seasonal updates in here.

[ri916]

i think my computer will die with all those players on the game could i just load all english players ??

with england down to bss/bsn, players from regional premier divisions, and players from top clubs in europe as a small database it should be 18000. that is perfectly legitimate for the challenge and 18000 seems reasonable. if that is too many you can take off players from top clubs in europe but that is only about 2000 players. The screenshot in the OP is just the database i'm using with my monster i5 processor and 6gb ram :P

[Nottingham Forest]

I only have 17k players. I could probably load another 100k, but it'd run even slower. With it only being a youth challenge, you don't really need anymore. Just England imo.

[ri916]

TM- posting a few little details is fine with an end of season update. We will keep to the seasonal updates unless you really want to do mid season ones

[ri916]

I only have 17k players. I could probably load another 100k, but it'd run even slower. With it only being a youth challenge, you don't really need anymore. Just England imo.

I agree. Players from top clubs makes european competition realistic, and players from regional premiers are needed to have a decent starting squad size. obviously you need england down to bss/bsn and any other leagues adds a bit to the challenge, with more clubs trying to poach your players. some like to have a well rounded game world with international players so they can manage national teams after a challenge. this is why i only set musts and didnt give restrictions, as adding players only makes the game harder!

[Tactic Master]

TM- posting a few little details is fine with an end of season update. We will keep to the seasonal updates unless you really want to do mid season ones

I think it really depends how fast I am

[Tactic Master]

I agree. Players from top clubs makes european competition realistic, and players from regional premiers are needed to have a decent starting squad size. obviously you need england down to bss/bsn and any other leagues adds a bit to the challenge, with more clubs trying to poach your players. some like to have a well rounded game world with international players so they can manage national teams after a challenge. this is why i only set musts and didnt give restrictions, as adding players only makes the game harder!

I've loaded up 49k players from your suggestions, it's running fine on my Dual Core piece of rubbish laptop

[ri916]

if it gets sluggish, you can always delete leagues, im assuming you have other countries loaded to get nearly 50k? i like my game running smooth and fast, so never really go over 50k, even with my monster baby precious (maybe i should pick just one pet name for my Laptop ).

[Tactic Master]

if it gets sluggish, you can always delete leagues, im assuming you have other countries loaded to get nearly 50k? i like my game running smooth and fast, so never really go over 50k, even with my monster baby precious (maybe i should pick just one pet name for my Laptop ).

No, I just loaded the players like you said I think, but with a Large database. I only loaded English leagues down to BSS BSN.

[ri916]

just reached the second qualifying round of the fa cup. Have a derby against Trafford! hopefully i can woop their rear ends!

[Tactic Master]

just reached the second qualifying round of the fa cup. Have a derby against Trafford! hopefully i can woop their rear ends!

Best of luck, destroy them!

I'd just like to say, I would like to totally forget my pre-season matches against the top teams Luckily we put the disappointment behind us and beat Hyde 1 - 0

[ri916]

No, I just loaded the players like you said I think, but with a Large database. I only loaded English leagues down to BSS BSN.

hmm...... i get 24000 with large. could you post a screen of the database set-up with the custom box up so i can see what you have done

oh! did you load what was in my screen shot! if you did, thats fine as it is the setup i have, but you didnt have to load all of those players. the only things needed were the top clubs in europe and the regional premiers.

[toonbalmy87]

at the moment mine is just a bog standard Acer but looking to invest in a Alienware

[ri916]

Toonbalmy87- are you joining and did you manage to set up the database alright?

[Tactic Master]

hmm...... i get 24000 with large. could you post a screen of the database set-up with the custom box up so i can see what you have done

oh! did you load what was in my screen shot! if you did, thats fine as it is the setup i have, but you didnt have to load all of those players. the only things needed were the top clubs in europe and the regional premiers.

Is it possible to get a screenshot of this on my save? Only thing I can find to screenshot is the Leagues...

[Nottingham Forest]

There isn't now, no. I'm at June already, time to see who comes up. Am I able to reload a few times if need be? Just double checking.

[ri916]

just pretend to start a new game and when you get to the database set-up it should have the database of your most recent started game (in this case this challenge) still there.

[ri916]

There isn't now, no. I'm at June already, time to see who comes up. Am I able to reload a few times if need be? Just double checking.

Yes, reloading is fine. will check if its in OP

edit: was in there

[Tactic Master]

Here's the two screenshots...

Add/Remove League

Database

I've also noticed what I did wrong, I chose players from top division clubs, rather than the other one which does kick out 24K people, but mine kicks out 49K with the mistake

[ri916]

thats fine, not illegal. will just eat up a bit more processing time.

[Tactic Master]

thats fine, not illegal. will just eat up a bit more processing time.

I'm not fussed, might make things more interesting anyway

[ri916]

It can only add to the game

[Tactic Master]

Just let a load of players contracts run out Down to spending £4.7k per week on wages, with a wage budget of £9.7k.

[ri916]

They really need to come up with a emoticon to show wiping sweat off your forehead. just came back in the last 20mins to win 2-1 against trafford despite being 1-10 favourites.

[ri916]

Just let a load of players contracts run out Down to spending £4.7k per week on wages, with a wage budget of £9.7k.

why did you let them run out! now you have less players!

[Tactic Master]

why did you let them run out! now you have less players!

They were mostly reserve team players, I'm looking to improve the facilities over gaining promotions at the moment.

[Tactic Master]

They really need to come up with a emoticon to show wiping sweat off your forehead. just came back in the last 20mins to win 2-1 against trafford despite being 1-10 favourites.

Well played, United style

[ri916]

wouldnt they have been useful for backups? i suppose you had about 30 players though didnt you. FC United only have about 20 players, so i had to keep everyone.

[Nottingham Forest]

Right, no chance of me reloading as it went past the date. Luckily for me though, it only went 3 days past(hope that's ok) and my team is Kingstonian.

Manager Profile
Contract
Season Expectations
General
Facilities
Current Squad
Backroom Staff
Finances

All current staff, players and backroom, can I offer them all long-term contracts ri916? They are players that can actually stay at the club?

[Tactic Master]

wouldnt they have been useful for backups? i suppose you had about 30 players though didnt you. FC United only have about 20 players, so i had to keep everyone.

I've got 20 players left in the first team, I think thats fine

[Tactic Master]

Right, no chance of me reloading as it went past the date. Luckily for me though, it only went 3 days past(hope that's ok) and my team is Kingstonian.

Manager Profile
Contract
Season Expectations
General
Facilities
Current Squad
Backroom Staff
Finances

All current staff, players and backroom, can I offer them all long-term contracts ri916? They are players that can actually stay at the club?

Best of luck! You have a nice stadium

[Nottingham Forest]

Oh, I see what you did. At least I'm not paying no rent on it, as far as I know . I have to get some money, quick. Oh United, Arsenal and Spurs, fancy coming to beat a team of pub players .

[ri916]

Nottingham forest- you can do everything that isnt in the rules. offering contracts is fine.

TM- 20 players should be enough

[Nottingham Forest]

Coolio, so all my squad and staff that I have now will be offered new deals. As soon as I get some youngsters through that are good, and that I plan on using, they'll be renamed with YP1, YP2 and so on. I may even get a son in this save .

[ri916]

yep, but only one player (the best prospect) is named per season. you dont have to do it if you dont want to, just thought it would make things more interesting in 10 seasons time when you have a team of YP's.

[Tactic Master]

First competitive match and we were up against one of the best teams in the league (Stalybridge)... Start of second half brought a red card, I thought that was game over, but some how we managed to defend very well and drew 0 - 0

[ri916]

seems like you are destined to emulate the chester in my game 6 goals scored and 6 conceded in 10 games

[TWFL]

What's the ruling with staff members? Can you hire new ones or try and get players to become part of the backroom staff?

[ri916]

does anyone have any bright ideas as to how i can sure up my defence at set pieces have conceded about 10 goals from corners in around 12 games already. have tryed setting match prep to defensive set pieces but it isnt having enough effect.

[ri916]

What's the ruling with staff members? Can you hire new ones or try and get players to become part of the backroom staff?

refer to the RULES section of the OP

[Tactic Master]

seems like you are destined to emulate the chester in my game 6 goals scored and 6 conceded in 10 games

I hope my record will be a bit better than that

[ri916]

TM- dont knock it. they are in the top half of the league even with that record!

[Tactic Master]

TM- dont knock it. they are in the top half of the league even with that record!

I just nearly had a heart attack! Second game against another top team (AFC Telford) and I was 4 - 0 up untill the 75th minute, they scored, then 82nd, then 85th, so it was 4 - 3... I'm sure you can understand what was running through my head! My striker put a header away in the 89th minute to win 5 - 3

Note: I wont be making a habit of posting about each and every match, this just needed to be talked about! Madness!

[ri916]

I wish i had heart attacks like that. but no, all i get is last minute losing goals

edit: definately appears that FC United is harder than chester. Either that or your really good and im really S**t at the game.

[ri916]

I'm signing off for tonight. I will check the thread tomorrow morning and will be active on it after i have finished school. not a bad first day for the challenge which has seen three official starts and 2 other probable starts. see ya tomorrow

[TWFL]

Elliot van Barthold has been unveiled as the new manager of Carshalton Athletic. They were the highest predicted team out of those promoted.

Manager Profile
Club Information
Facilities: Pretty rubbish but hopefully I'll be able to expand them quickly. First one I want to improve is Junior Coaching.
Squad: Not much cover for positions but some good quality players for BSS level.
Finances: Pretty average. Hoping to get them up quickly.

The Youth: Only found one player in the U18s but he was rated pretty highly. His name is Jack Devonshire and is predicted to be a lot better than my current striker. Let's see how much better..

[Tactic Master]

Elliot van Barthold has been unveiled as the new manager of Carshalton Athletic. They were the highest predicted team out of those promoted.

Manager Profile
Club Information
Facilities: Pretty rubbish but hopefully I'll be able to expand them quickly. First one I want to improve is Junior Coaching.
Squad: Not much cover for positions but some good quality players for BSS level.
Finances: Pretty average. Hoping to get them up quickly.

The Youth: Only found one player in the U18s but he was rated pretty highly. His name is Jack Devonshire and is predicted to be a lot better than my current striker. Let's see how much better..

Best of luck Hope we can all stick to this, because it will be very interesting to see if it's possible!

[Nottingham Forest]

This is going to be harder than I thought. Not only are all my players knackered already. We're losing heavily against the big teams. I've got one of my 2 CBs out injured for 3 months. Another striker, my best one has picked up an injury during this game and then my second choice keeper has moved. Luckily I still have 3 .

[ri916]

TWFL- welcome aboard! interesting choice with carshalton and it should be a decent challenge to stay up! jack devonshire looks like a great prospect and if you could get his pace and acceleration to 15/16 and then train his finishing and off the ball, he could be a brilliant poacher at BSS and BSP level!

Nottingham Forest- unlucky with the injuries. hang in there, grind out results, and just think of the day Kingstonian will enter the football league!

[Tactic Master]

This is going to be harder than I thought. Not only are all my players knackered already. We're losing heavily against the big teams. I've got one of my 2 CBs out injured for 3 months. Another striker, my best one has picked up an injury during this game and then my second choice keeper has moved. Luckily I still have 3 .

Players at this level generally do play with low fitness half the time, they have 2nd jobs

I'm extremely happy with my Chester side right now, 3 wins out of 4, with a draw, 2nd in the league and beaten two top teams.

[Nottingham Forest]

I know it'll be tough and I know fitness will be an issue. But I don't think it's helping that I'm playing them every 3 days . Needs must and we need some money.

On the plus side, just lost 3-0 to Blackburn. It's an improvement on the 4/5/9-0s that we've been getting.

[ri916]

TM- I think instead of hiring fitness coaches we should give our players free gym membership!

[TWFL]

Best of luck Hope we can all stick to this, because it will be very interesting to see if it's possible!

Yeah I'm going to try and keep this going for as long as possible. It'll be hard but so worth it if possible!

TWFL- welcome aboard! interesting choice with carshalton and it should be a decent challenge to stay up! jack devonshire looks like a great prospect and if you could get his pace and acceleration to 15/16 and then train his finishing and off the ball, he could be a brilliant poacher at BSS and BSP level!

Thought I'd mix it up a bit, make sure it's not all just FC United and Chester And they were predicted 18th so better chance of survival! And yeah we'll see how quickly he progresses. I have a feeling it won't be too fast considering the poor coaches and facilities.

[Tactic Master]

We would be classed as FM Legends if we actually managed it

Just been given extra funding towards Junior Coaching!

[Tactic Master]

TM- I think instead of hiring fitness coaches we should give our players free gym membership!

Sounds like a plan My Centre Mids are knackered!

[Nottingham Forest]

Oh you haven't . I've managed to get upto £100k now and I've asked for everything only to be turned down.

[ri916]

very jealous of TM getting junior coaching increase

[TWFL]

Already?! That'll help for March youth intake..

Just got the best result of my pre-season against Walsall, a League 1 side!

[Nottingham Forest]

Just got my best result so far 3-3 against Bournemouth. I've also lost my best striker again to injury. Although I rushed him back again, he's now out for 2 months or so . A fully fit squad, I have about 19 players. I currently have 3 out injured though.

[Ant]

Going to join in, holidayed a season and took over at Hendon due to there geographic location of being in London and less than 20 minutes from both Tottenham & Arsenal it might encourage youth in the area.

Manager Profile
Contract
Season Expectations
General Information
Facilities
Senior Squad
Staff
Finances
Reserve Squad
Under 18 Squad

There are no under 18's and 19 first team players, we're predicted 21st of 22 and have 2 pre-arranged friendlies against Sutton Utd & Hayes & Yeading and I'll try to arrange a couple of money spinners.

[stothy]

Jake Stothard takes charge at Chester. He has made a statement suggesting he will be attempting to hold a steady defence and attack teams on the break. He also stated he was worried about the lack of pace in the squad, though he faith he could pull it off. He hopes to carry on the clubs promotion form and pull off a back to back promotion.

[TWFL]

Just got my best result so far 3-3 against Bournemouth. I've also lost my best striker again to injury. Although I rushed him back again, he's now out for 2 months or so . A fully fit squad, I have about 19 players. I currently have 3 out injured though.

Bad injuries are going to really damage a season. At this stage the squads are too small to cover most of them, I'm beginning to see how tough this is really going to be.

[Faultless]

Started this with Billericay, have been waiting for a suitable challenge since the new patch came out and this one seems interesting.

[Nottingham Forest]

Coming up to my first game of the season and well it's not looking pretty. I had two players out of contract at the end of July and whilst I got one to sign on again, the other didn't He's left the club and now with me having 3 players injured, I'm going into my first game with only 4 subs. 2 of which are keepers . Really hope I get some youth players in March, as all of them are being signed up, even if they are rubbish.

Edit: Make that 3 as one of the players who left was in my starting line up. God help me I'm ****ed.